I Hauve A Cold

There's quite an interesting tendency in the various "analysis" of this character. On the one side she's accused to lack a character arc because it's too interwoven with Cloud's - which is enough of a weird accuse, as if she, of all characters, was expected to have a life disjointed from sociality..? Isn't every person the product of their social experiences and relationships with other human beings? How comes nobody accuses Vincent to lack a character arc because it revolves around Lucrecia? - while on the other hand she's harshly accused to be a regrettable character because she's too busy trying to overcome her personal issues to tell immediately Cloud her version of Nibelheim incident, or because she scolded him during AC - as if all of this happened for no reason.

So either she lacks a character arc and she's completely devoted to Cloud, or she has one and Cloud is not her only concern, people should pick one or just stop "analyzing" characters in purposeful bad faith, to push the idea that if Aerith could have been in that situation instead of her things would have been better, which is wrong by all means, but still it is a groundless comparison with the only purpose to trick the interlocutor and reach the consensus that this character is bad/shallow/uninteresting/unworthy, so by default the other one must be "the good one" aka the winner of "the competition".

If she's constantly portrayed in every single entry of the story by Cloud's side, then Cloud is involved in her life just like she's involved in his. Hell, Cloud devoted his youth trying to be worth her attention, and later created a fake persona based on her perception of him, to cope with the sense of guilt for failing to save her twice. HE revolves around her.

It's pointless to try to describe her as a sort of annoying insect that stubbornly keeps flying around him. It's a matter of common sense.

Seriously, nothing ruins this story and its characters for me more than these bad takes.

As a Cloti, what do you think about the criticism of OG FF7 where Tifa revolves around Cloud too much?

I think people need to get over the fact Tifa's story entwines with Cloud's because she's the deuteragonist and her role is to support the protagonist.

Baby boy, baby

“Tifa said to take you home, kid.”

Aerith in the Sleeping Forest

Patreon | Redbubble

I'm still a beginner in Japanese but maybe I can help (anyway, take me with a grain of salt).

Here there are some etymological info about Wutai and Da Chao.

As the link says, the literal meaning of 五台 is "five plateaus" both in Chinese and in Japanese. In Japanese the name of the mount is written in the same way but it's pronounced the japanese way, ごだい godai (in both languages 五 means "5" and 台 means "platform"). Anyway, in the game Wutai is written in katakana (which is usually the writing system used for foreign words), keeping the original Chinese pronounce ウータイ.

I checked some pictures of Da-Chao statue and it seems it's formed by only 4 figures, but in the pagoda quest Yuffie has to fight against five different enemies (and other meanings of 台 are "elevated area" and "level"), so maybe that's indeed the reference.

Anyway - side note - the names of the 4 fighters and Godo himself have nothing to do with Japanese/Chinese cultures or Buddhism, they actually derive from the names of western playwrights: Gorki, Shake, Chekov, Staniv, Godo. Fandom links the origin of Da-Chao to a Tibetan temple but following this logic it could be linked to something that has nothing to do with Buddhism as well. It's written in katakana so it's difficult to trace the potential chinese etymology.

As for Fort Tamblin, タンブリン in Japanese means "tambourine".

Wutai names - etymology

FFVII scholars, can you help?

There’s a sacred mountain in Shangxi Province, China, called Mt Wutai. This may be where SE got the name for the land of Wutai in FFVII, or it may not, and I don’t know what the characters 五台 mean in Chinese, but we do know Wutai is the name of a real place, like Costa del Sol. 

But what about Fort Tamblin, which in Japanese is タンブリン？ Does it mean anything? Is it meant to mean anything? 

And Da Chao? Does it mean something?

As far as I can remember, Fort Tamblin, Da Chao and Wutai proper are the only three locations in Wutai for which we have name. 

Talk about a coincidence!

A possible connection between Aerith and Stamp (as a reference of Zack)

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BEFORE READING: This post is based on theories more than actual facts, since the true nature of Stamp hasn’t been revealed yet. I’ll provide some elements that could hint its connection with Zack but all this has to be considered as a personal opinion. If this will turn out to be all wrong, I apologize in advance.

(Link for the previous post here)

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Stamp is a new character introduced in FFVIIR. It is:

“A sweet little canine character beloved by the citizens of Midgar. A regular fixture in cartoons and movies, his face is on every corner of the city either in toy or poster form. Originally used as propaganda material during wartime.”

Most of the fans assume that this dog is a metaphor to represent Zack. The main proof for this theory is the fact that, in Crisis Core, Angeal used to compare Zack to a puppy:

“Are you Zack, the puppy? My son wrote to me once about you, zero attention span, restless as a little puppy.” - [Angeal’s mother to Zack].

This description links up very well with Stamp’s song lyrics (here).  

The biggest mistery around this character is its double design: it is shown to be a beagle during the whole game, but in the end we can see it as a terrier. 

My personal opinion is that this is a metaphor about Cloud’s fake persona. We, players, mostly play as Cloud, so we see the elements of the game through his eyes (and we never see Stamp when we are not Cloud).Cloud thinks to be a former SOLDIER because he’s overlapped his image on Zack’s. 

“Real-Stamp” (Zack) is the terrier, but we see it as a beagle (Cloud) because we see the world through his alter ego. 

At the end of the game, when Zack defeats his destiny, we can see terrier-Stamp because Cloud has no altered personality (or, at least, not yet).

So, my take is that Stamp represents Zack in both forms. 

Of course, I could be totally wrong.

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I’ll provide some comparisons to support this theory. Around Midgar we can find some posters with Stamp, and most of them can be related to actions that Zack did:

Zack encourages Cloud to work hard to become a SOLDIER.

Zack saves Mako poisoned Cloud, carrying him from Nibelheim -represented by the flames- to Midgar.

Zack took part to a mission in Icicle Inn with the Turks against Avalanche. During the mission they had to go through a cave with falling icicles. There he lost two SOLDIER friends (mabe this will have something to do with the Intergrade?). 

There’s a Stamp magazine on Tseng’s desk. The only other times we’ve ever seen his desk was to show Aerith’s letters (Crisis Core) and the dossier about Nibelheim incident, (Last Order) when the Turks were trying to save Zack from the army.

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That said, assuming I got this subject at least partly right, let’s talk about the elements that link Aerith to Stamp-Zack.

In Aerith’s childhood room, in Shinra HQ, there’s a book with Stamp and a letter in the background. I tried to translate what’s written on the cover but the picture is very blurred, so there could be mistakes, especially because I don’t speak Japanese (in bold the parts I’m rather sure to be right):

スタンプからの招待状

さえスタンプファンクラブ 「スタンププリーダー」      

Invitation from Stamp 

 Only Stamp fan club “Stamp breeder”

Definitely a strange translation. 

Anyway, the odd fact is that this book appears in Aerith’s room, of all the places of the game, and nowhere else, so I’m wondering if it is maybe meant to metaphorically hint the 89 letters Aerith wrote to Zack.

(Picture taken from Reddit)

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There’s another detail that could link Stamp-Zack with Aerith: the stars.

In both designs Stamp wears a hat/helmet decorated with stars. Stars have been often used as a military symbol around the world, and so seems to do Shinra.

All characters’ outfits have been redesigned for the Remake. On the shoulders of Aerith’s jacket we can see some decorative stars. And not common stars but military stars, normally used in army uniforms or medals. Quite an uncommon choice for the clothes of a girl strictly related with life, peace and nature (a link to an older design of her jacket without stars, meaning they were introduced purposely for the Remake). 

As a side note, her gray bracelet has the same design of the guard of the Buster sword. 

Talking about stars, also in her canon outfit to see Don Corneo she wears some accessories with star pendants (earrings, necklace, bracelets and sandals). At first it seemed to me a strange choice, as stars in FFVII are commonly related to the promise (and there were no stars in her OG red dress), but in the light of a possible connection with Stamp-Zack it really makes more sense.

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In short, I’m convinced the devs are hinting once more Aerith’s bond with Zack, even in these subtile details. I was unsure if I had to created this post, given the uncertainaties around the subject. Anyway..

..even if I’m wrong, I have to admit it is a good number of coincidences!

EDIT:

All this recalls me something...

"Aerith’s star and Cloud’s star! They show a great future!” [Cait Sith, Temple of Ancients]

...and now it turns out the stars could be related to Zack? And consequently related to Cloud because of his alter ego? What a coincidence...

Rainy Sunday afternoon

Graphics enhancement, 23 years later!

I’m not good with Japanese, but these lines sound VERY similar!  

It would be interesting to know if there are others, did you spot any?

FFVII Remake vs Crisis Core comparison